About This Project

Limited oceanographic data prevent accurate prediction of whale foraging hotspots. To address this, we will develop and deploy novel ocean-sensing tags on blue whales to simultaneously measure ocean conditions and animal behavior, offering new insights into how fine-scale ocean processes influence whale feeding. This data will fill gaps in marine ecosystem research and inform adaptive conservation strategies to mitigate human impacts on blue whales, supporting their recovery in a changing ocean.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Unraveling the processes that drive predator and prey distributions is key to understanding marine ecosystem dynamics. While much of our knowledge about ocean processes comes from surface-based observations (e.g., ships, satellites), a deeper understanding of how these processes influence animal movements requires exploring beneath the surface. Perhaps the best way to understand animal behavior in relation to oceanographic conditions is to measure both simultaneously. Advances in biologging technology have revolutionized our ability to track marine animals underwater, revealing their movements and behaviors as they dive. Recent innovations in biologging technology now allow us to capture the ocean conditions animals experience as they navigate and forage. The combination of these two biologging technologies are just beginning to be explored together, and our project seeks to combine and deploy them for the first time on the world’s largest predator, the blue whale.

What is the significance of this project?

Baleen whales play a vital role in marine ecosystems, yet many species, including blue whales, remain endangered. Recent studies have revealed that fine-scale ocean processes (e.g., hours; kilometers), such as eddies and fronts, shape krill aggregations and directly impact blue whale feeding efficiency. However, the mechanisms that drive the formation of these feeding hotspots remain poorly understood. This project will integrate biologging technologies to collect data at the scales most relevant to predator-prey interactions, addressing a critical gap in marine ecosystem research. By improving our ability to predict where and when blue whales will occur, this research will help develop adaptive conservation measures to mitigate human impacts (e.g., ship strikes) and support their recovery in a rapidly changing ocean.

What are the goals of the project?

This project aims to improve our ability to measure ocean conditions at the fine scales necessary for understanding whale foraging behavior. The overarching goal is to develop and test a novel tag design that can be deployed on large baleen whales and utilized by the broader research community. Specifically, we will combine a prototype whale-borne CTD (Wildlife Computers Scout-CTD) to collect high-resolution temperature and salinity data, with fine-scale movement sensors (TechnoSmart AGM). This combined tag will provide unprecedented insight into the oceanographic features that structure prey aggregations while simultaneously measuring animal movements and behaviors. We will deploy this tag on several blue whales off the California coast in the Summer/Fall of 2025. Results from the test deployments will be compared to previous tag deployments on blue whales in the same region to evaluate the performance of new sensors and inform recommendations for tag design improvements.